Mangaluru (The Hindu): Polls for eight legislative council positions were held on Sunday across Maharashtra amid talks of money and muscle use.

The elections not only forced the political parties to rely on political mathematics, but also created an atmosphere of distrust between parties such as Congress and Nationalist Congress Party (NCP). The total voting percentage in this election, where corporators were to select members of the legislative council, was 98.51%, according to information from the State election commission.

Among the eight seats that went for polls, battle for two seats from Mumbai was considered the most intense with three candidates in the fray. While State’s environment minister Ramdas Kadam (Shiv Sena) and Bhai Jagtap (Congress) are the sitting MLCs in fray, NCP rebel Prasad Lad’s candidature as an independent has disturbed the political equation in the Mumbai municipality.

Even thought the Raj Thackeray-led Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) boycotted the MLC election, Mr Kadam may still garner votes of 67 corporators as Sena enjoys support of 88 corporators (including independents and nominated). Besides, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) too has extended its support.

The real fight seems to be between Mr Jagtap and the NCP rebel despite the Congress and the NCP announcing a pre-poll tie-up. While the Congress enjoys support of 54 corporators, it needs the backing of the NCP and Samajwadi Party (SP) to secure victory.

A senior Congress leader said that no action was taken against Mr Lad despite him rebelling against his party’s diktat. “We are not sure if the NCP was with the Congress or not,” the Congress leader said.

Wary of political backstabbing, all parties had moved their corporators to ‘secure’ places. Sources said Sena-BJP corporators were taken to a hotel in Madh Island, while Congress- NCP members were out of Mumbai. Results will be declared on December 30.

Among the other seats which went to polls on Sunday include Kolhapur, Solapur, Ahmadnagar, Dhule and Akola-Buldhana-Washim.

Similar scenes of political distrust were witnessed in Kolhapur as the Congress had moved all its corporators to Bangalore. Satej Patil, former MoS for Home is contesting here for Congress. Mahadev Mahadik, the sitting MLC has rebelled against the Congress and is contesting as an independent. In Solapur, Congress-NCP candidate Dilip Salunkhe is contesting against saffron alliance’s Prashant Paricharak.

The real fight in Mumbai seems to be between Bhai Jagtap (Cong) and NCP rebel Lad

Photo credit: The Hindu